Closer To Heaven
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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSjG-tRJyp4&w=560&h=315]
(0)The post Mission Spotlight for October 29 first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Mission Spotlight for October 29 appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-october-29/
One of my goals as chaplain of Forest Lake Academy in Orlando, Florida, was to become acquainted with each student. It was a challenge in a school with 450 students in the mid-1970s.
Image © Pacific Press
At the beginning of the school year, a student came up to me and said, “Have you had a chance to become acquainted with Paul yet?” I had not.
“You need to get acquainted,” the student said. “Just ask where he is from.”
My curiosity was aroused, so I invited Paul to my office. He turned out to be a rather shy 16-year-old. “So, Paul,” I said, “where are you from?”
“I’m from a little town in Georgia called Plains,” he said.
My mouth dropped open. “What?” I said. “That is where the president of the United States — Jimmy Carter — lives!”
I had to ask. “Paul,” I said, “do you know the president?”
“Oh, yes,” he said.
Early that summer, he had needed a job to pay for his tuition at Forest Lake Academy, and he had gotten a job at a peanut warehouse, the main industry, in Plains. He was excited about finding work and thought that he had made it clear about taking Sabbaths off. But his work supervisor stopped him when he left on Friday with a promise to return on Monday.
“No,” the supervisor said. “You come tomorrow. We are open Saturday.”
“But, you see, I’m a Seventh-day Adventist,” Paul said.
“Come tomorrow, or you won’t have a job anymore,” the supervisor said.
Paul thought for a moment. “Can I speak to the owner?”
“But that’s the president!” the supervisor exclaimed.
“Is he in town?” Paul said.
“Yes, but I don’t think that it’s going to make any difference.”
Paul went to the Carter home. He had to go through the Secret Service, but he was able to sit down with the president. Jimmy Carter listened attentively as he explained the situation and his observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. “I respect any young person who has convictions and stands up for what he believes” the president said. “You can have your Sabbaths off.”
And the soft-spoken 16-year-old teen became Christ’s ambassador to the U.S. president.
You and I also are ambassadors for Christ. “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20, NKJV). Let us, with Christ’s help, be faithful ambassadors.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
(0)The post Inside Story: Christ’s Ambassador first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Inside Story: Christ’s Ambassador appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-christs-ambassador/
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Death of Moses,” Pages 469-480, in Patriarchs and Prophets; “The Voice of Stern Rebuke,” Pages 129-142; “A Prophet of Peace,” Pages 237-243, in Prophets and Kings; “The Centurion,” Pages 318, 319; “The Touch of Faith,” Pages 342, 343; “Lazarus, Come Forth,” Pages 524-536, in The Desire of Ages.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer‘s assurance of eternal life. ‘He that believeth in Me,’ said Jesus, ‘though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?’ Christ here [in John 11:25-26, ] looks forward to the time of His second coming. Then the righteous dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living righteous shall be translated to heaven without seeing death. The miracle which Christ was about to perform, in raising Lazarus from the dead, would represent the resurrection of all the righteous dead. By His word and His works He declared Himself the Author of the resurrection. He who Himself was soon to die upon the cross stood with the keys of death, a conqueror of the grave, and asserted His right and power to give eternal life.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 530.
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(0)The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Resurrections Before the Cross first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Resurrections Before the Cross appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-resurrections-before-cross/
Here, too, Jesus uses the metaphor for sleep in talking about death. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up” (John 11:11, NIV). When some thought He was talking about literal sleep (John 11:11-13), Jesus clearly stated what He meant: “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:12-14, NIV). Actually, when Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus already was dead four days; his corpse was already rotting (John 11:17, John 11:39). By the time a body starts decomposing badly enough to smell, there’s no question: the person is dead.
Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com
In this context, when Jesus told Martha, “Your brother will rise from the dead” (John 11:23, NASB), she reaffirmed her belief in the final resurrection. But Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die forever. Do you believe this?” (John 11:23-26, LEB). And Jesus added, “If you believe, you will see the glory of God” (John 11:40, NASB). Martha believed, and she saw the glory of God in the resurrection of her brother.
The Bible says that by God’s word life was created (Genesis 1:20-30, Psalm 33:6), and by His word life can be re-created, as in the case of Lazarus. After a short prayer, Jesus ordered, “Lazarus, come forth!” (John 11:43, NKJV). Right then and there these people saw the life-giving power of God, the same power that spoke our world into existence, and the same power that at the end of the age will call the dead back to life in the resurrection.
By raising Lazarus, Jesus proved that He had the power to defeat death, which, for beings like us, who inevitably die — what greater manifestation of God’s glory could there be?
(0)The post Thursday: Lazarus first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Thursday: Lazarus appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
You can view an in-depth discussion of Resurrections Before the Cross in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpc3lNSn56Q&w=560&h=315]
With thanks to
Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.
(0)The post 5: Resurrections Before the Criss – HopeSS Video Discussion first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post 5: Resurrections Before the Criss – HopeSS Video Discussion appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/5-resurrections-before-the-criss-hopess-video-discussion/
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